the intern | a.i.

one

Drumming her fingers against her steering wheel, Aubrie hummed along to the song playing over the speakers in her car. She had a weird routine when she drove. The windows always had to be down, no matter what the weather. And music HAD to be blasting. It made the most monotonous days fun, and it was fun for Aubrie Clare to romanticize her life.

She always made an attempt to find joy in the littlest things. Whether that be enjoying an early morning cup of coffee and staring out the window of her Studio City apartment, overlooking the Valley or simply driving to her new job. Well, it wasn't really a job, moreso a paid internship. Money is money. Aubrie had scored a coveted position interning in the PR department at BMG Records, while also (unfortunately) juggling classes in her last semester at USC. She couldn't wait for graduation, and finally receive her degree. It had been a long time coming.

Usually, the morning commute to her internship wasn't terribly long. It just so happened that she left a little later than usual. In a series of unfortunate events, she had slept through all five of her alarms, spilled coffee on her new shirt and managed to run into an open cupboard in her kitchen in a failed attempt to find something to blot out the newly formed coffee stain. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to let anything ruin her Friday.

It was unfortunate, because her outfit was incredibly cute. Aubrie had paired skinny dark wash blue denim jeans with minimal rips (as a homage to her emo era in high school, of course) with a  new green babydoll blouse with ruffled sleeves. She had splurged on a new wardrobe for her internship, and of course, it would be her luck that the most expensive item was stained first. Her dark brown hair was naturally wavy, so thank god there was one less thing for her to worry about this morning.

It was only her second week interning at BMG Records in Los Angeles, and Aubrie was determined to make it worth her while. So far, she was mainly completing menial tasks assigned to her by the supervisor, Juliette, a thirty-something with way too much time on her hands that she devoted her entire being to her career. In a way, Aubrie admired Juliette, but also feared her, as she ruthlessly ran the PR department for the company.

Aubrie couldn't be late. She had to make sure Juliette knew that she meant business. After all, she wanted to secure a job after graduation, and she knew that being in Juliette's good graces would be her ticket in. 

"Oh SICK. Dude, this one is an absolute BANGER," Aubrie said to no one in particular. English Love Affair by 5 Seconds of Summer had come on shuffle. Absent-mindedly playing her air drums, she paid no mind to any of the surrounding vehicles and pedestrians gawking at her. Aubrie was in her own little world, as usual. Nothing could bring down her good mood. 

She wasn't the most die-hard fan of 5SOS anymore, but she had been going to their concerts since she was a teenager. Growing up in LA was a blessing, because she was at the epicenter of music venues. A lot of their earlier music, what she considered to be ''the Classics", tended to crop up on her playlist often. Aubrie liked pretty much any and every genre of music, but there was a special place in her heart for the band she essentially grew up listening to. And it didn't hurt that she kind of found their drummer, Ashton Irwin, attractive. In all honesty, she had had a crush on the man since she was 15. At 25 now, finishing up her Master's degree, that little crush was still going strong. Ten years is a long time, and old habits die hard.

Pushing her glasses up her nose, Aubrie turned into the nearly full parking lot beside the record label. Thank god for compact car parking. It was a miracle that she found an empty spot right near the entrance. She absentmindedly whipped her car into the parking space, taking no notice for the six foot something man walking in front of her car.

"Hey! Watch it!" the man exclaimed, making eye contact with Aubrie.

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

She almost hit Ashton Irwin.